


falling fast to the ground

by kimirce



Series: crystals of the sea and stars [4]
Category: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Atlantean Lance, Atlantis, Childhood Friends, Crystal Magic, Gen, Kidfic, Prequel, atlantean language, description of injury but it's brief and not graphic, probably you should read other works in this series first, the Heart of Atlantis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29229477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimirce/pseuds/kimirce
Summary: Lance and Thira have a lot of adventures growing up. Sometimes, they even manage to come out unscathed.
Relationships: Lance & Lance's Grandmother (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) & Princess Thira (OC)
Series: crystals of the sea and stars [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722238
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	falling fast to the ground

**Author's Note:**

> Definitions of the Atlantean words used can be found in the end notes. Lance and Thira are both 10 years old in this chapter.

Lance whooped, feeling air streaming past his face, buffeting his short-cropped hair. Leaning forwards, he urged his flier to go faster, trying to pull ahead of Thira. She had won four out of their last six races, and Lance wasn’t interested in letting her win again.

Together, they left the open water and wove through a maze of jagged rocks, at times dipping down to barely skim the surface of the water.

Lance took a hairpin turn, edging just past Thira, and immediately pulled back to fly straight up, scraping the monolith of stone he had almost crashed into.

“Yes!” Lance exclaimed as he cleared the rocks, pivoting in midair to aim himself straight at the wall of the giant cavern that held the city of Atlantis.

“Kunet-bet gabreh!” Thira shouted in frustration, only a couple feet behind him.

Lance grinned, knowing she couldn’t see it. “Dindlag gabreh!” he shouted in return.

Several of the race courses that he and Thira had spent most of the past three weeks devising and then running had routes that ran through the systems of caves and lava tubes that riddled the earth around Atlantis. Technically, they were forbidden to take fliers into the caves, given the dangers of flying in such close quarters, but Lance and Thira enjoyed the challenge too much to ignore the caves. Over the course of their exploits, they had both gotten exponentially better at trick flying.

Lance shot into a cave just large enough to fit his flier with Thira on his heels.

Going half by memory and half by the light provided by his flier, Lance flew through a series of wide, twisting tubes, then darted down into the tightest part of the race. The ceiling was right over his head, and he ducked to avoid it while his flier skimmed the cave floor below. There was no way Thira could pass him here. This time, the win would be his.

The cave opened up as Lance twisted left. He saw a glimmer of light ahead. This tunnel was the last part of the race. It was pretty big, and it was long and straight, making it perfect for a final run.

Lance tightened his grip on the handles of his flier and leaned into it, shooting for the light at full speed.

Thira was still right behind him, and she was taking the opportunity the wider cavern offered to pull up next to him. Lance gritted his teeth and tried to go faster, determined to keep his lead.

The opening wasn’t far ahead when he and Thira accidentally knocked into each other. The hit destabilized Lance’s flier, and he didn’t have enough space to get control.

“Look out!” Lance shouted as his flier twisted into Thira’s.

Thira shrieked as she was knocked sideways, and together, their fliers crashed into the ground. The impact sent them flying, and a second later, Lance had the breath knocked out of him as he crashed into a wall. As he fell to the floor, his ribs protested desperately.

For a moment he just tried to breathe, tried to get his bearings through the pain. It wasn’t easy. Every breath hurt.

When he got a grip, he saw Thira lying still, a few feet away from him. His heart caught in his throat.

A moment later, Thira shifted, and Lance’s panic eased.

He looked around. It seemed they had managed to fall into one of the cave’s alcoves. The opening leading to the main cavern was above them. Pale light filtered through, indicating that they weren’t far from open air.

Thira moved again, and Lance’s attention immediately shifted back to her. She tried to stand and barely made it to her knees before she wavered and collapsed back to the ground.

“Thira!” Lance said, and his voice came out thready and weak. He coughed. His chest hurt so much.

“I’m okay, Lance,” Thira tried to assure him, then immediately folded over and retched onto the ground.

“That does not sound okay,” Lance pointed out, and then coughed again.

 _“That_ sounds even less okay,” Thira said. “I’m just a bit nauseous.”

Lance tried to give her a look that clearly said ‘yeah, right, I don’t believe you’ but then realized Thira probably couldn’t see it in the dim light of the cave.

“Well, don’t try to stand again,” Lance said.

“Yeah, alright,” Thira acquiesced. She stayed on the ground as she scooted closer to him, until she was close enough that he could see the outline of her white hair in the faint light from the cave mouth above.

Every breath hurt. “Can you help me sit up more?” Lance asked.

“Yeah,” Thira said, and reached for him. As soon as her hand touched his side, Lance cried out in pain. Thira jerked away immediately. “Lance! What’s wrong?”

“Hurts,” Lance managed. “Try lower.”

This time, Thira was exceedingly cautious and gentle. She hooked her fingers around his hips and tried to drag his center of gravity back so he could lean against the cave wall in a more upright position. Lance groaned as he moved, but the same sharp pain from before didn’t assault him again. When he was settled, he tipped his head back against the cave wall and breathed.

Thira swayed next to him, and Lance reached for her, brushing her arm with his hand. He tugged her sleeve. “You need to lie down,” he told her. “Come on.” She folded without much resistance, and soon was stretched out on the cave floor with her head in Lance’s lap.

“I hope someone looks for us soon,” Thira said. “I don’t think we have much chance of getting out of here on our own.”

Lance grunted his agreement. “It’s too bad neither of us knows any yobmaka,” he said. “Then we could fix ourselves up and get out of here, no problem.” He glanced up towards the cave opening. It wasn’t too far; it was a climb that either of them could make quite easily in ordinary circumstances. But in their current condition…

“We are in so much trouble,” Thira sighed, her eyes closed. “We’ll be lucky if they let us out of their sight for the rest of the summer.”

“No kidding,” Lance muttered, thinking privately that he’d be lucky if his amat didn’t send him straight home after this. So much for spending the summer in Atlantis.

*

Lance wasn’t sure how long they had waited. The light outside was lessening, and the cave got increasingly darker. Thira drifted off at some point, her breathing on his lap reassuringly even. Lance hovered on the edge of sleep, more bored than he could remember having been in a very long time, but not quite able to fall asleep. The pain was a bit too much.

He was beginning to wonder if anyone would ever find them when he felt it. His crystal glowed, and Thira’s did, too. She woke with a gasp.

Their crystals pulsed reassuringly, and Lance realized in wonder that he could suddenly sense his amat’s presence. He could feel Queen Kida too, to a lesser degree.

“They found us,” Thira whispered.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before they heard voices and saw lights approaching.

Queen Kida dropped into the cave, followed by Manakh and Milo. Other rescuers waited above.

The adults gasped, rushing to the children.

As the most accomplished healer among them, Manakh dropped to her knees, immediately pulling out her crystal. Milo and Kida stood back to let Manakh work, worry written on their faces.

Manakh placed a hand first on Thira’s forehead, and then Lance’s, focusing as she mentally scanned each child to catalogue their injuries.

They both had amassed a number of scrapes and bruises, but the most worrying injuries were Thira’s concussion and Lance’s cracked ribs.

Manakh’s heart ached at the thought of letting her grandson’s pain continue any longer, but Thira’s head injury required tending soonest.

 _None of that,_ she thought, and held her crystal in her left palm, letting her worry drain out of her. The task was what it was, and she would do what must be done. In order to do so, she needed serenity and focus.

Calm descended over Manakh as she drew on her own reserves of mana and her connection to the Yobmok. She threaded power into Thira’s body, concentrating on the delicate repairs to Thira’s bruised brain and fractured skull.

Time was always hard to discern while she worked, but Manakh could feel it as the strain to Thira’s system eased and her body relaxed.

When Manakh was done, she handed Thira off to her parents and turned her focus to her grandson.

“Thira…alright?” he mumbled.

“Yes,” Manakh soothed. “She is fine. And now it is your turn, pedinen. Be still.”

She placed her hands over Lance’s head and heart, and wove her healing into him. Manakh had spent her life training in the healing arts, and her reserves of power were deep and strong. Thankfully, none of Lance’s three cracked ribs had pierced his lungs, and his internal bleeding was minimal. If it had been worse, it was possible that he wouldn’t have been found in time.

Light pulsed through Lance, easing his hurt and knitting the living tissue of his bones back together.

When Manakh lifted her hands, Lance’s breathing was deep and even. He yawned, and curled his torso into his grandmother’s lap. At ten years old, her grandson was already long and lanky, and nearly too big for her to hold.

“I’m sorry, Amatim,” he said softly.

Manakh sighed. “I know,” she said.

*

To Lance’s surprise, his Amat did not send him back to Cuba.

He and Thira were forbidden from going off alone and from using the fliers. It was disappointing, but not unexpected. Thira was more upset than him, if only because she didn’t have Lance’s gratitude that at least he hadn’t been sent home.

During the admonishment they had received when their guardians had worked out that they had been _racing,_ of all things, in the caves, Lance had let it slip that they’d flown the caves dozens of times without any problems. Given the disappointment his Amat had broadcasted when he revealed that they’d been flouting the rules far longer than that one day, Lance wished he had kept that particular fact quiet.

He still thought it was a valid point, though. One accident didn’t erase all the previous successes he and Thira had had. Unfortunately, Manakh and Diego didn’t see it that way.

One week into Lance and Thira’s grounding – literally, they were confined to the ground, though not to their homes – Manakh marched the two children into an empty room in the palace, and told them that they were going to learn to heal.

“We’re going to learn yobmaka?” Thira gasped.

Typically, training in the crystal arts began at the age of twelve.

“You are going to learn to keep yourselves alive,” Manakh said grimly. “Knowing the two of you, you will get into trouble again. Next time, you will be prepared.”

Neither Lance nor Thira could hide their burgeoning excitement.

Manakh narrowed her eyes. “Sit,” she ordered, and so began the children’s first lesson in the healing arts.

*

At the end of the first day, and the next, and the next, both children went to bed exhausted. Manakh was a grueling teacher, and even the basics of yobmaka were very difficult.

Lance woke up one morning in the middle of the second week of lessons, and groaned. Everything hurt. Trying to channel mana with his crystal left his body sore like he’d tried to swim several marathons, but the pain was also in his bones and his _brain._

“Lance!” he heard his amat call.

Lance threw off his covers and shuffled out of bed. “Coming, Amatim!” he replied.

A few minutes later, Lance made his way into the kitchen to join his grandparents for breakfast. “Morning, Amatim, Abuelo,” he said.

“Morning, Lance,” Diego said.

“Good morning,” Manakh said, a glint in her eyes. “How are you feeling, Lance?”

Lance looked at his grandmother and pouted. “Awful,” he said. “But you knew that. Was it like this for you?”

“What do you think?” Manakh asked.

Lance sighed.

Manakh took pity on him. “It will get easier soon,” she said.

“How soon?” Lance wanted to know.

“Soon,” Manakh said. She handed him a bowl of sour yogurt, a plate of fruit, and a cup of tea, “Eat. We have somewhere to be.”

Lance sighed again. “Yes, Amatim,” he said.

*

At the beginning of the lesson, Manakh set the two children to meditating, as she had done each day previous. Neither Thira nor Lance were very good at it, as they both tended to be very active, both physically and mentally. Finding stillness and focus was difficult for both of them.

Thira was starting to adjust to it, but Lance was still struggling quite a bit.

Manakh considered Lance, and had a thought. “Lance,” she said.

Lance blinked his eyes open. “Yes, Amatim?”

“Take your necklace off and hold it in your hands,” she instructed, and did the same with hers. Thira opened her eyes curiously.

Manakh held her crystal in one hand, and with the other, she started twisting and untwisting the necklace string around her fingers in a rhythmic motion.

“Try this,” she told Lance. “See if it helps you focus.”

Lance looked uncertain, but copied her.

“Now close your eyes,” Manakh said. Lance did.

“That crystal you hold may seem small,” Manakh began, “but it is still part of a greater whole. If I were to break it in half, it would still be one crystal.

“The same is true of you. You are one person, but you are part of a greater whole. Just as your crystal is part of the Yobmok, you are too.”

Lance twisted his necklace in his hands. His amat was right; he found the motion soothing, and having his hands occupied made it easier to clear his mind. He thought about her words.

 _Part of a greater whole,_ he thought. He thought about how the sea he swam in back home in Veradero was connected to the water that surrounded Atlantis. They seemed so separate to him, but however distantly, they were part of the same ocean. And he was made of water, too, right? Saltwater, even, just like the ocean.

Something about the whole notion seemed important.

“We are all one,” Manakh said. “Distance doesn’t matter; separation is an illusion. The Yobmok is part of you. Don’t try to force the power. Let it come to you.”

 _Like the tide,_ Lance thought, remembering the feeling of swimming with the current.

Something in his chest loosened. His crystal hummed. And suddenly, Lance had it. His nerves lit up, and a touch of power raced over his skin.

The Yobmok pulsed in his mind, an endless reservoir of energy to draw from.

Lance opened his eyes, and for a few moments, saw his crystal glowing with bright, steady light.

As he stared at it in astonishment, the light faded.

Thira squealed and threw herself around his neck. “Lance! You did it!”

Lance hugged her back. Looking up, he saw that his amat wore a proud smile. Lance smiled back, relieved. He hadn’t said anything, but he had been afraid that he would never be able to do this. He was glad to be wrong.

*

Later that day, Thira also succeeded in accessing the Yobmok’s mana. Her crystal shone like a blue flare, and Lance smiled as his own thrummed in answer.

After that, their healing lessons began in earnest. Now that they had the power, they had to learn how to direct it, how to use it. They had to learn that they had limits; that their bodies could only hold so much mana; and that trying to channel too much mana at once could be dangerous, as Manakh grimly warned them.

Trying to gather too much mana at once could cause them suffer paramana and fry their own nervous systems.

On the other end of the scale, there was the possibility of zemana – that they could tap into their personal reserves without realizing, and literally start draining their own life forces.

Even with the dire warnings, both Thira and Lance enjoyed their lessons a lot more after they got past the initial stumbling block.

After two months of training, they were both quite capable of healing up scrapes and bruises. They had also learned the basics of connecting through the crystals, and now had the capability to call for help if they ever really needed it.

In the last two weeks of Lance’s stay in Atlantis, he and Thira were finally allowed on the fliers again. They were even allowed to race, though the caves were strictly forbidden.

And when the time came for Lance to say goodbye to Atlantis once more, he closed his eyes and touched the crystal on his chest. It hummed, and distantly, he felt the same hum echoed by the Yobmok.

As Lance made his farewells to his family and Thira’s, and all their friends, Manakh saw him glancing at the Heart of Atlantis, the glowing Great Crystal that shone above the city. When she hugged him goodbye, she whispered in his ear. “Distance doesn’t matter. It’s part of you, part of us. You’ll have what you need when you need it.”

Lance smiled gratefully at her as they separated, and he left Atlantis with his heart feeling light. He would be back.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick Glossary of Atlantean:
> 
> Kunet-bet gabreh! - to the surface with you!  
> Dindlag gabreh! - you first!  
> yobmaka - the crystal arts  
> amat, Amatim - grandmother  
> Yobmok - Great Crystal (the Heart of Atlantis)  
> pedinen - little one  
> mana - life energy or quintessence  
> paramana - mana overreach or overload  
> zemana - mana exhaustion or depletion
> 
> Though not all of these definitions have been added yet, check out my [Atlantean Language Masterpost](https://kimirce.tumblr.com/post/620023133342154752/atlantean-language-masterpost) for more info! Additionally, my [tumblr](https://kimirce.tumblr.com/) generally has a lot more information about this series, including [this post](https://kimirce.tumblr.com/post/636333904569188352/characterfamily-notes-for-crystals-of-the-sea-and) about Lance's family. Feel free to come ask me questions or just say hi!
> 
> (Also! [This post](https://kimirce.tumblr.com/post/636333980779692032/summaries-of-all-the-stories-which-i-currently) has a list of all the stories which I currently plan to add to this series. Please check it out and let me know which ones you are most interested in seeing, so that I can prioritize those!)
> 
> As always, I'd love to hear what your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading, everyone!


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